The Newlyweds, The Klutz and The Just
by X X Ringo X X
Summary: Kes and Amy are back! Travelling on the Dawn Treader with a rather odd assortment of sailors, they face pirates, storms and avalanches, all with a smile. But will they get their fairytale ending? Sequel to "The Fangirls,The Sack and The Mosenator"
1. Loveliest of trees, the cherry now

_**Hello again! I am, once again, back with more clumsiness, bad jokes and general stupidity. I'm so excited to have another one of these up! :) Watch out for the switch in POV, when it changes from Kes to Amy. **_

**_Disclaimer: Unfortunately, C.S. Lewis's family still own Narnia. Damnit._**

**_THE NEWLYWEDS, THE KLUTZ AND THE JUST_**

_**Prologue:**_ **Loveliest of trees, the cherry now**

For some reason, it always begins with the sky. Whether 'it' happens to be a trip between worlds, or merely the start of a journey, that's how it is. That day the sky was fabulously dark and brooding, heavy with rainclouds and distant angry rumbles. I loved it for its _thereness_. Around three years had passed since I last looked at the sky, and I mean really looked. I'd been in Narnia for a year now, and already I couldn't imagine life anywhere else. Still, it was days like this, days which brought change, monumental or otherwise, which made me count my lucky stars. And I mean that literally: stars aren't taken lightly in Narnia.

So much had happened in three years. I was now eighteen years old, and I no longer felt like a misplaced child. I had sacrificed my world, and in doing so had found my place in it. I wasn't the immature teenager I had been when I first fell into Narnia: gone were the scruffy converse, the spunky attitude, the stubbornness. Okay, so the stubbornness wasn't really gone at all, and I still had some of my former spunk, but the converse really were gone – banished to the furthest reaches of the castle. And my two years in England had given me a new found measure of patience, not to mention a new lease of life. I seized the day now, and nothing could stop me.

Over the past year I had dipped in everything: drawing (not so good), flute playing (surprisingly passable) and even tried a little horse riding, much to Ed's delight and amusement – amusement when I fell off, that is. Yes, Ed. That brings me to a whole new topic. Ed and I were... complicated. I adored him, don't get me wrong, but he was my best friend, not counting my cousin of course, and this new relationship thing was slightly awkward. Still, he seemed enthusiastic about making it work, and he absolutely _loved_ holding my hand (not that I was complaining.) It wasn't exactly Romeo and Juliet, but it was us, and that was good enough for me.

My cousin, Amy, was totally over-the-moon when Ed and I returned after our two year absence, and wouldn't let me out of her sight for months. I had missed her like hell, and we had a whole two years of gossip to catch up on, so most days found us on the beach below Cair Paravel (her favourite place) or sitting in the shade of the apple orchard (_my_ favourite place) swapping anecdotes and laughing over past happenings. While my time in England had given me a new relish for life and spontaneity, her time in Narnia had matured her somewhat, and, when we spoke of the land we both loved, I was surprised by her passion for it. During my absence she had completed the book we had begun, and it was fabulous. Seeing as there were no photos in Narnia, it was illustrated with painstakingly drawn sketches of everything from her wedding dress to little Will in various stages of growth, just to make sure I hadn't missed anything.

Amy and Peter's son, William Edmund, was absolutely gorgeous. He had adorable blonde curls, huge blue eyes and was even at one stumbling around and trying to conquer the world. When he tried to steal Caspian's crown, and wear it himself, I decided he was going to be just like his dad. Needless to say, said father was unimpressed by this observation, but Caspian thought it hilarious. William's aunts, including me of course, spoilt him rotten. Susan, Lucy and I would dote on him whenever possible, and if he did something bad, which he frequently did, he would turn beseeching blue eyes on us, and we just couldn't bring ourselves to tell him off. 'Will Power' I called it once, and the name stuck.

After a few months of simply basking in the Narnianess of everything, I decided I needed a project, a proper one, to keep myself busy. I found the perfect one. I decided to draw a map. Not just any map, a real map, like the ones in England, with a proper scale and a key which was actually useful. It would stretch from the Wild Lands of the North to the coast of Calormen in the South, and from Lantern Waste in the West to the furthest Eastern Seas. This I undertook with vigour, grilling Caspian for facts, and cornering worried fauns for their geographical knowledge, limited or no. As well as the need for travel which my map entailed, I longed for adventure. To explore the land I had been taken from and then returned so happily to. So I was delighted by Caspian's sudden announcement.

He had, he declared, vowed to find the seven lords sent away by Miraz during his reign. They were scattered far and wide across the Eastern islands, and we were to travel by boat. We would go from Cair Paravel, stopping at Galma and Terabinthia along the way, to the Seven Isles, then the Lone Islands and from there onwards into the unknown. I thought it incredibly exciting, and shook my head at silly C.S. Lewis for not making a book of it. He hadn't, had he? Nah, I only had to try and picture Peter and Caspian stuck on a little boat together for months to decide that it couldn't be anything less than hilarious, and I certainly would have remembered it, young or not. We were breaking the boundaries, then: heading into the unknown. It would, I decided, be an adventure. Caspian found my enthusiasm extremely endearing:

"Yes, an adventure. The Voyage of the Dawn Treader."

I fell off my chair.

* * *

**Prologue: Why in hell am I so bad at this?**

I'm Amy Smith, and I've been in Narnia for about 3½ years. When I was 15 my cousin Kes and I somehow fell through a book and landed in Narnia. It was rather weird. We really did, though. Oh, and did I mention Peter Pevensie? Yeah, FIT. He's my husband now, so I s'pose my name's actually Amy Pevensie. Hmm. I adore him. Y'know, when I first turned up in Narnia it was just like "OMG! Will Moseley!" But now... I really love him. Really. It's like, I changed from fangirl to... princess. Overnight! Kes always thought he was arrogant and big-headed, but he isn't! He's Pete, not Will Moseley. Hard to explain, but he is. Anyway Pete rant over, back to my point. What was my point? Oh yeah, Narnia. So, we fell through a book onto a beach in a fictional world. And then- wait, did I mention that we were Narnia fangirls before that? No, I didn't. I'm not very good at this, am I? See, and now I'm getting distracted thinking about Peter again. No, must focus. I said I'd efwrite this diary and I will. Kes's been writing one for _years_. I've only read a bit of it though, and she writes in past tense. How weird is that? It's like "My name _was_ Kes." Rather weird.

So as well as a husband I also have a son. He's called Will Edmund and he's so cute! I _love_ him! He's just like his dad. Kes said that when he tried to steal Caspian's crown, but Pete wasn't impressed. They're both so stubborn. They really should learn to get along, they're gonna be siblings-in-law soon. Oops, shouldn't have said that. But they are! Ed and Kes are so gonna get married. Even though they both go bright red whenever I say it, and Kes hits me – hard. They're so in denial. Which makes it more fun for me. Mwahahahah. I think I need another evil plan, the other one worked so well.

Wow, that was ages ago. Before Kes decided to do some stupidly noble thing and sacrifice herself for my good. I'd never admit it, but I'm really grateful. Dunno what I would've done without Pete. And I wouldn't have Will. I could've killed her at the time, though. I missed her a lot. A LOT. She wasn't at my wedding! I had to have Sue and Lucy as my bridesmaids instead of her! And poor Pete wanted so badly for Ed to be his best man. I think, if she hadn't have gone back, everything would have happened so much more... slowly. That's it – I don't have any regrets, but if I could change on thing it would be to go back and do everything more slowly. It all happened so fast. I think it would've been nice to have a few years with Pete before getting married, and then a few years of marriage without a baby. I feel like I've grown up a bit too fast.

Kes says Narnia suits me. I dunno what that means. I do love it though, especially the beach at Cair Paravel. Pete always says that, whenever he can't find me, he looks for me down there first. He's usually right too. Thing is, he won't be finding me for quite a while. Cos they're going on a big adventure, but I'm not gonna go. I want to, obviously, but I can't really leave Will. I'd take him, but Pete and I found out he gets seasick. I haven't told Kes yet. I don't think she'll like it. Hell, _I_ don't like it. I'm gonna miss them soooo much! Oh, and Lucy's staying too, but still. She's kinda annoying. And Kes and I were s'posed to be getting Sue and Capsian together, but she'll have to do that on her own now. I _was _gonna figure out a plan to get her and Ed to get married (finally) but Pete'll have to do it for me.

Before they go I've gotta give Kes that book. We started writing a big book of our adventure before she left, and I finished it. I'll give it to her to read while they're at sea. Oh, actually, I have to go. They're leaving in about a few days and I need to tell Kes I'm not going. I think she's in her room right now, so I'll go tell her. Maybe I'll take Will too – she won't kill me if he's there. I hope. One last thing – this whole diary thing, it's rather weird.

**_So, hope you guys weren't too confused by the change in POV! _**

**_R&R?_**

**_- Kes_**


	2. The Owl and the Pussycat went to sea

_**Heya! This may be the last update for a while as I have rather a busy week, beginning with Prom tomorrow night! I'm having my hair dyed nice and orange. :) Also, I've exhausted my supply of inspiration. This is Part 1, btw, so every chapter will be in Kes' POV until I tell you otherwise. **_

**_Disclaimer: The only stuff in my wardrobe is clothes (and shoes of course)_**

_**PART 1 - KES**_

_**Chapter 1: **_**The Owl and the Pussycat went to sea**

Preparation for the journey now began in earnest. Wide-eyes Telmarines mixed with flustered Narnians in the busy port, checking knows, loading supplies and securing possessions. Caspian had elected Trumpkin to rule in his stead while we were away, and Lucy had decided, in holding with a profound dislike of boats, to remain behind also.

I was in my room a few days before we were to leave, packing, when Amy walked in carrying Will. Will was evidently not impressed with being carried around, and was doing his very best to escape from the confines of his mum's arms. She set him down on my rug, and he promptly set about exploring the furthest reaches of my cupboard.

"Oh great!" I smiled in relief "I _so _need your help – I'm completely stumped! What are you packing? Because I know we're docking at Galma and Terabinthia, and likely loads of other places, so I have to pack some nice dresses but for the rest of the time we're just stuck on a boat, so I don't know, and I think-" I stopped at the look on my cousin's face. "What?"

She sighed "William gets seasick."

"What? Really? How do you know?"

"Pete and I took him out the other day. It didn't go well."

"Bummer. Well, at least you know now. We'll just have to take a lot of sick bags. Although," I hesitated, pondering "There aren't actually any in Narnia, so maybe we'll have to substitute."

She shook her head. "I can't make him come on a journey lasting months, when he can't even deal with an hour long one."

"So... what, then? You're gonna leave him here?" I was grasping at straws and I knew it.

"Kerry-"

"You can't stay here! I'll go crazy with boredom! You can't stick me on a ship with Pete for however many months and expect us both to survive! And what about our plan to get Sue and Caspian together? There's no way I can pull it off on my own!"

She sighed "I know, I really want to go. You know how much I want to go, but..." We both watched as Will pulled a stray shoe I'd never worn from my cupboard and proceeded to chew on it like a strange kind of dog.

"Right then." I shook my head "The least you can do is help me to pack." And the rest of the afternoon was spent in long and often fruitless decision making.

A couple of days later found me standing on the quay as Caspian bid his subjects farewell. All the planning had, surprisingly, paid off, and everything had worked out without too many hitches. I was extremely upset that my cousin was staying at home, but I really didn't want her to feel guilty – it was hard enough for her to stay behind as it was. Besides which, I wasn't the only one who'd be missing her. I searched the crowd for Peter, who'd been very quiet the past few days, but couldn't find him.

"...to find the Lords Miraz banished and return them safely home!" Caspian finished, to rapturous applause.

Then, the port was a mess of confusion as many tried to clear it and others to board the boat. I turned, tripping over the hem of my dress, and when I looked up there were Amy and Peter saying their goodbyes. Not wanting to interrupt, but knowing that if I didn't I wouldn't get to say goodbye to my cousin, I ran over, skidded in a puddle and fell on my ass.

"...I'll miss you! So much." They were talking quietly and hadn't noticed my rather impressive fall.

"I'll miss you too." He looked tenderly at the baby in his arms. "Look after Will for me."

"Of course I will." There were tears in Amy's eyes now. "Come back home safe."

"I will."

"Promise!"

"I promise. I love you."

She sniffed, trying to stop her tears. "I love you more."

He managed a watery laugh and wiped the tears from her cheeks, and then kissed her.

I pushed myself up, feeling distinctly embarrassed, and coughed softly. When only little Will looked at me, I tugged awkwardly on my cousin's sleeve. "Um, Amy... I'm going to get on the boat now."

"Oh!" She broke away from Peter, blushing, and hugged me so tight I thought my ribs would explode. "I'll miss you!"

"Can't...breathe...." I choked, and she released me sheepishly.

"Sorry."

"S'okay. I'll miss you too!" I hugged her again, wishing for the first time ever that she was not a mother, dropped a kiss onto Will's soft head, and then turned and headed back to the ship before I could change my mind. Amy had been my almost constant companion, and I would miss her so much. As I negotiated my way through the crowd I heard Peter talking to little Will, and held back a tear.

Sighing, I slipped in between two bickering fauns and up the gangplank onto the giant of a ship. This was, I realised with a jolt, the Dawn Treader, my favourite of C.S. Lewis' books, and I was in it. I suppose I really ought to have been used to that by now, what with being in Prince Caspian and all, but whatever: it was still unreal.

I stood for a minute on deck, relishing the sway of the boat beneath my feet – it reminded me of England. My dad and I used to go sailing in Cornwall, and I'd missed it. But thoughts of my parents depressed me still, so I pushed them away and went below deck, climbing awkwardly through the hatch and wishing I'd listened to my physiotherapist back in England when she'd told me to work on my coordination. I passed Captain Drinian on the way, with whom I'd become acquainted a few days earlier, conversing animatedly with Caspian. They both nodded at me and continued, so I went in search of my cabin. I had originally intended to share with Susan, but a spare one had come up and we figured why not use it – we got on well, but a few months at sea is enough to turn even best friends into enemies.

I turned the corner of the narrow hallway and walked right into Ed, who beamed at me.

"Oh good, I was just looking for you! Come one, I'm supposed to show you your cabin.

I smiled as he took my hand and led me back the way he'd come. "That's handy – I was just off to find it."

"Then our interests momentarily align." He smiled, and continued down the corridor.

Once he was satisfied that I was well enough acquainted with the little wooden room which would be my home for the next few months, we made our way back on deck for the launch. I caught sight of Amy, Lucy, Trumpkin and little Will at the front of the crowd, and waved ostentatiously, almost smacking myself in the head as I did so. Their answering waves were no less enthusiastic. As sailors ran past us, shouting orders and pulling on ropes, Ed and I moved over to the edge, where we were joined a moment later by Peter, Sue and Caspian.

The ship heaved, and then we were pulling away from the port, awash with cheering and waving subjects. I waved until my arm hurt, and then switched to the other one, but eventually Amy was too far away to see anymore, and I dropped my arms, leaning casually over the side. I inhaled deeply, breathing in the salty sea air, and feeling the wind play in my fiery hair. I turned to face the deck and saw Peter wiping away a stray tear. Smiling, I looked over my shoulder to check Ed was distracted, which he was – gazing out to sea with a glazed look, and then leant over to Peter and patted his arm.

"It's okay to be sad, you know. I'll miss her too."

He turned to look at me, and then moved away, a closed look on his face. "I don't know what you're talking about."

He walked away. Well FINE. There I was trying to be all friendly and he just goes and throws it back at me like the stubborn git he is. Jerk.

"What's eating him?"

I turned to smile at Ed "Oh nothing. He's just working on his charm."

Ed smirked "Yep, he's famous for it."

"Famous for what?" We turned to see Rhince, the first mate, smiling at us.

"Ah, just discussing Pete and his charm."

"Aye," the sailor laughed "He's like a bear with a sore head this mornin'. I'd stay outta 'is way if I were you."

"Too late. We've already come under fire."

"I suggest a tactical retreat." I added, eyeing the returning form of Peter.

Laughing, Ed grabbed my hand and dragged me off to the poop deck to talk to Cpt. Drinian, whom he thought the epitome of cool. I found this new hero worship adorable, so I was perfectly willing to skip the length of the ship, much to his amusement, and deposit myself on the railings, settling down to watch Ed learn how to steer.

Later that day I came across Susan and Caspian flirting shyly over a map.

"See," he leaned around her, pointing over her shoulder to an awfully out of scale and badly drawn Galma, which more resembled a gone off custard pie than an island. "We should be there in two days." She blushed at his close proximity and he smiled down at her tenderly.

"Hi guys!" I greeted them brightly, and they jumped apart like they'd been electrocuted. "Whatcha doing?" As they both reddened I smiled widely.

"I was just showing Susan our route."

"With _that_ map?!" I raised my eyebrows at them incredulously, and then put my hand to my heart and took on a self-sacrificing tone. "Narnia needs me."

Susan grinned "It needs you to get a sense of balance."

"Hey! I resent that! Ed says my clumsiness is... what was then word?" I searched my memory "Ah yes, endearing."

Caspian and Sue exchanged smirks. "Ed thinks _everything_ about you is endearing."

It was my turn to blush. I rubbed the back of my neck sheepishly, trying for nonchalance. Retort needed. "Yeah, well... at least Ed and I can admit to it!" Mwahahaha, revenge. Their faces could've stopped traffic they were so red. I bounced smugly out of the room and crossed the deck, stopping in front of the mast. I was looking up at the crow's nest when a stockily built sailor grabbed my arm desperately.

"Can yer climb?" he asked, and I recognised him as Rynelf.

"Um... yeah, I guess." I thought vaguely of an unfortunate incident concerning an apple tree, but pushed it away.

"Great!" His wide eyes searched mine. "How dya like ter be the watch?"

I blinked. "Um..."

"Please!" he looked around nervously, then dropped his voice. "I'm 'fraid a heights."

"Oh!" I smiled "You know what? I'd love to."

"Thank yer!"

He looked scarily like he would hug me, which I didn't particularly relish the thought of (he was very muscly, not to mention smelly) so I stepped away and put my foot in the lowest rung of the rope ladder. I got about halfway up, high enough to feel the wind buffeting my back, when there was a shout from below.

"_KES! WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING?!_"

Unfortunately Ed's shout, for it had of course, been Ed, disrupted my tenuous hold on concentration, and my foot slipped off the rung.

"_KES!!"_

I regained my footing with difficulty and glanced down, my hair whipping in my eyes. Ed was a long way down. I swallowed, and shouted back at him.

"_I'M FINE, ED!"_

"_WELL YOU DON'T LOOK IT!" _He yelled_. "WHAT'RE YOU DOING UP THERE?!"_

"_WHAT DOES IT __LOOK__ LIKE I'M DOING?!" _I practically screamed back at him – halfway up a mast in the middle of the ocean is not exactly the most convenient place to hold a conversation.

"_WHY_ _ARE YOU CLIMBING THE MAST_?!"

"_TO GET TO THE CROW'S NEST!"_

"_WHY_?!"

"... Bye Ed." I continued climbing, throat now considerably sorer. I reached the crow's nest relatively quickly, and hoisted myself over the side, misjudging and ending up in a heap on the floor instead. I sighed and stood up, looking out at the magnificent view. It was only then that I noticed the figure now three quarters of the way up the mast.

"Ed! What the hell?!"

He didn't answer till he'd reached the crow's nests and climbed agilely into it. "Well, I wasn't going to let you sit up here alone, was I?"

I shook my head at him, shivering in the blasting wind, and leant back against the side. "You're so..." I hesitated, searching for the word.

"Chivalrous?" He suggested, smiling.

"Overprotective." I corrected him, and he laughed and hugged me.

"Always have been, always will be."

It was teatime when we climbed down from the crow's nest, swapping with a cheerful Rhince, who declared just how very much he enjoyed being watch, before climbing up to the crow's nest so quickly he almost could've been flying. Ed gave a low whistle, raising his eyebrows at me in appreciation of Rhince's agility, and then offered me his hand. Smiling, I took it and together we headed toward the gallery, me smacking my head lightly on the hatch as we went.

"Ouch." I rubbed my head ruefully, and Ed seemed torn between concern and amusement. He chose amusement, and was still laughing at my unimpressed exoression when we reached the gallery, joining Sue and Cpt. Drinian, who were discussing archery. Drinian was, it seemed, something of a latter day Robin Hood. Ed was, predictably, impressed. I was, predictably, amused.

After a pleasant, despite Peter's bad mood, dinner, Ed and I slipped out to watch the sunset.

"Wow." I said softly, dropping my head onto his shoulder. "I'll never get tired of watching it."

"Nah," he looked down at me, smiling gently. "Me neither."

"One day down, hundreds to go."

"Yeah." He looked out across the endless sea. "Wonder what awaits us."

"Adventure!" I promised with a grin. I was right.

**_So... they're off! _**

**_R&R?_**

**_-Kes_**


	3. When in the chronicle of wasted time

_**Hello! I wrote this all in one go today, with a distinct lack of inspiration, so I'm sorry if it's awful, but you guys did tell me to update! Oh, and title's from Will Shakespeare's Sonnet 106 - I thought it was relevant to Kes's predicament, and it has the word Chronicle in it!! *squees* lol.**_

**_Disclaimer: Why do I still even bother with this?_**

_**Chapter 2: **_**When in the chronicle of wasted time**

The next day dawned bright and cheerful, conveniently matching my mood. I stretched in my tiny cabin, dressed and slipped outside. Looking around and yawning, I realised with surprise that only a few people were up. Typically being a late sleeper, it was unusual for me to rise earlier than Ed, although my cousin was worse – Pete normally ended up waking her. I looked round the ship and saw Reepicheep steering. Stepping round a Telmarine sailor who'd evidently fallen asleep where he stood, or rather lay, and waving at Drinian in the crow's nest, I made my way over to the Mouse.

"Hey, Reep."

"Ah, good morning Kes. Fabulous weather we're having!"

"Yeah, nice strong wind." I pushed my hair out of my face and passed a cursory glance over the deck, double checking for Ed.

Reep smirked. "Looking for someone?"

"Um, no... I just... never mind."

"He's in the mess."

Mess was the sailors' word for "food hall." I was gradually beginning to pick up on it. Blushing, I turned to leave, tossing a grin over my shoulder at Reep. "I don't know who you're talking about."

"No?" He called "Then where are you going?"

"Swimming." I teased him, and then disappeared into the hatch. Sure enough, when I reached the 'mess' I found Ed and Pete digging into bowls of what looked like porridge. I scooped up a bowl from the side and went to sit with them. "Hey guys!"

Pete grunted noncommittally and Ed smiled. "You're up early."

I nodded my agreement. "I know! I think this boat's a good influence on me."

As Pete got up and walked away, Ed muttered darkly "Wish you could say that for everyone."

I shrugged. "So, he's being moody: he misses Amy!" So did I, but that was hardly the point. I had Ed, and Pete had... well... basically no one.

"Yeah, I guess."

"C'mon Ed." I nudged him gently. "Stop bullying your brother, and let's go on deck."

Later that day I was helping Rynelf, who was ever so slightly incompetent, to 'swab the deck' as he put it, but ended up spending more time falling over in the soap bubbles than actually doing any work. I was looking out starboard as I pulled myself up, yet again, off the floor, when a flash of something shiny caught my eye. Abandoning my task momentarily, I lugged my mop over to the side and squinted into the sunlight. Sure enough, a moment later the flash came again, then again, and suddenly there were hundreds of them. I realised with delight what they were.

"Amy, look! Mermaids!" I spun on the spot, automatically looking for my cousin and, just as I lost my balance, I suddenly remembered she wasn't there. I wobbled on the wet deck, feeling my feet slip out from under me, and was about an inch from the ground when someone caught me.

"Need some help there?"

Normally I would've smiled, but the mermaids had brought back my sense of loss over my cousin, so all I managed was a quiet "Thanks."

"Listen, don't mope – she wouldn't want you to."

How was it Ed always knew exactly what I was thinking, and exactly what to say to make me feel better? This time my "Thanks" was genuine, and I managed a watery smile before dumping my mop in its bucket and slipping below. I reached my cabin and pulled out the book Amy had given to me before we'd left – the one she'd completed while I was in England. As I opened it, something fell out of it and fluttered delicately to the floor. I grabbed it, and saw that it was a letter, and excitement washed through me momentarily before being replaced with disappointment: the handwriting was not Amy's, but Lucy's. Curious now, I opened it. What would Lucy have to tell me that she couldn't have done on the quay? Quickly, and with mounting excitement, I read the letter.

_Dear Kes,_

_You're probably wondering why I hid this letter, instead of just telling you whatever I have to say earlier. Well, the reason is, I needed some time to work on my plan, and I only wanted you to know: I don't want to raise Pete's hopes and then disappoint him. Basically, I'm going to persuade Amy to join you. Will has a nanny, and I'm here, so she needn't worry about him, and I really think she needs this adventure. I'm sure while you're reading this she's moping around the palace missing you. Anyway, I'm going to persuade her, and then I'll have a couple of griffins fly her to Galma – it's not that far away. She'll meet you in the harbour at sundown, 9 days after you started your journey. Don't tell anyone in case it doesn't work, but I hope it will._

_Wish me luck!_

_Lucy._

Oh. My. God. OH MY GOD! Ohmygod! I jumped up and down, beaming at the letter in my hand and in desperate need of something to hug. Luckily, at that moment, someone knocked on my door. I ran over to it and swung it open to reveal Ed, who opened his mouth to say something but didn't get the chance, because the next moment I had grabbed hold of him and was hugging him very very tightly.

"Um... Kes?"

"YES! YEYYEYEYEYEYEYEYEY!"

"What?!"

"YEYEYEYEYEYYEYEY!"

"Right..."

I released him, and proceeded to bounce around my cabin like Tigger until I felt able to sit down. Ed stood in the doorway, looking slightly scared but mainly highly amused, and waited till my happy fit had passed. Finally, exhausted by my giddiness, I flopped down on my bunk and grinned at the ceiling. Ed came over and sat gingerly down next to me.

"Okay... I thought you were in here crying or something. I came down to make sure you were okay and you practically suffocated me. Now I'm kind of worried."

I laughed and he seemed unsure of what to make of my mood. "I'm just so happy!"

"Why?"

Uh oh. Lucy had said not to tell anyone. "Um..."

He raised on eyebrow. "'Um'?"

"Um."

"Okay then, don't tell me." He looked slightly offended as he stood up and walked to the door.

"Ed-"

"No, it's fine. I'm just going to... help Caspian." With that, he left.

Torn between elation and guilt, I bounced up and down a few more times, then sat down and read Lucy's letter again. Luckily Ed hadn't noticed it bunched up in my hand. I got to the last line and frowned. Nine days after we left? Well, we were on Day 2 now, so that meant I still had a week before Amy would turn up. I fervently hoped that we weren't too near Galma. Chewing the skin around my nails, nervous habit, I considered. I could ask Caspian how near we were, only Ed was supposedly with him, so I figured I ought to steer clear. Drinian was probably still in the crow's nest, although why a captain would be up there in the first place was beyond me, Susan would be no help, and even if Peter would, there was no way I was going within a foot of him for at least a week. That left Rynelf, who would have absolutely no idea and who probably couldn't read a map anyway, Reep, who was steering, and Rhince, the first mate. There were, of course, other crew members, but I didn't know them very well, and felt shy around them. I sat for a few minutes, thinking, but couldn't see any reason that I shouldn't ask Rhince, so I stood up, folded the letter and slipped it back into the book, and left in search of the first mate.

I found him on deck, talking to a faun named Marin about the wind speed. After a few moments, Marin left, and then Rhince turned to me.

"What can I do for you?"

"Well, I was just wondering, how far are we from Galma?"

He laughed and pointed out to sea. "See for yourself!"

I spun on my heel and followed his gaze. Sure enough, there in the distance, was a vague blob. "_That's_ Galma?"

"That's Galma."

"Oh. How long d'you reckon it'll take to get there?"

He shrugged. "Half a day, give or take. Less if the wind holds up."

"Oh. Thanks? Hey, Rhince, can I just ask... why did no one shout 'land ahoy'?"

He threw back his head and laughed.

I spent the next couple hours avoiding Ed and trying out how to keep the ship docked in Galma for a week. It just wasn't going to happen, was it? It'd only taken us two days to get there, we were hardly going to waste a week hanging around. Could I maybe fake the ship needing repairs? Nah, trained sailors were hardly going to listen to me, besides which, they'd just check whatever I'd said and see that it was fine. What if the ship really did need repairs? Was there any way I could 'lose' something essential? Possibly, but likely not – the ship was always full of sailors. Damnit, I'd just have to play it by ear. Improvise. Great.

Still pondering this problem, I made my way to the deck, taking a detour to stop at Drinian's cabin to ask how long he reckoned we'd be stopping in Galma: at least that way I'd know what I had to work with. The door to his cabin was open, so I knocked and slipped inside. He smiled up at me from the table he was lent over, a massive amount of books spread across it.

"Hello Kes."

"Hey Drinian. That's a lot of books you've got there."

"Yes," He smiled and pushed a tired hand through his dark hair. "I'm trying to find out as much as possible about Galma before we dock there. Was there something you required?"

"Um, yeah." I fiddled with my dress. "I was just wondering-"

"Captain Drinian!" The faun I'd seen Rhince talking to before came running in. "King Caspian needs you on deck."

"Thank you, Marin." Drinian turned to me apologetically "I'm afraid I'm needed."

I nodded. "No rest for the wicked, huh?"

He smiled slightly bemusedly and left, leaving me still in his cabin. I was turning to leave when a huge, dusty old book caught my eye. Now, you'd think I would have learnt to steer clear of old books by now, considering their tendency to be portals in disguise, but instead I went over to it, drawn to it somehow, curiosity burning my fingertips, and opened it. Immediately sheets of parchment flew everywhere, dust clouding round my head like a swarm of bees, and a strange warming sensation went through me. When the dust cloud cleared, the paper was neatly back in the book. Confused, and slightly scared, I hurriedly closed the book again and rushed out of the room. As I shut the door to the cabin a single piece of parchment blew towards me in the gust I'd created in shutting the door, and I caught it with surprise – I'd been convinced that all the sheets had been back in the book. I turned to open the door and replace it, but at that moment an excited Rynelf came running at me down the corridor, shouting "We're docking, we're docking!" at the top of his voice. Guiltily I folded the parchment without reading what was written on it, and slipped it into the tiny purse attached to my belt: I would return it later.

I emerged from below deck with Rynelf to a brilliant sight. Galma loomed up directly ahead of us, her port decked in fabulously bright flags and hangings, with what seemed to be her entire population waiting on the quay to greet us. We all looked at each other, grinning in equal enthusiasm, and Ed came to stand next to me, squeezing my hand apologetically. I grinned back up at him, practically floating on air I was so happy, but the problem of Amy was still tugging at the back of my mind. Seven days, seven days. Good job seven's my lucky number.

**_So... will Lucy persuade Amy to come? And will Kes delay them long enough?_**

**_R&R?_**

**_-Kes_**


	4. Swallows travel to and fro

_**I'm SO SO sorry! I haven't updated in so long!! Thing is, I'm going off absolutely nothing here: C.S. Lewis' book begins about halfway through the actual journey of the Dawn Treader and, like the idiot I am, I began at the start. Hence the difficulty. My most profuse apologies to all of you! Feel free to flame or whatever, I totally deserve it. Oh, and title's from a Robert Louis Stevenson poem I read the other day and liked.**_

**_Disclaimer: C.S. Lewis would never be as lazy as I have been. _**

_**Chapter 3: **_**Swallows Travel To and Fro**

We docked at Galma to cheering so loud that I could barely hear myself think. Excited and overenthusiastic villagers crowded the port, cheering and singing and shouting at the tops of their voices. I turned to Ed with a bemused grin.

"Apparently they don't get visitors often."

He returned the smile. "Apparently not."

As the sailors ran around the ship, yelling at each other and tossing ropes around, I looked nervously out at Galma. Somehow, I would have to keep us here for seven whole days. I was still mulling over this when the ship bumped against the quay, at which point I decided to push it aside for awhile and instead revel in the excitement of a new land. I followed Drinian, Caspian and the three Pevensies off the ship, narrowly avoiding falling off the gangplank, and we all gathered on the dock, where a pompous looking man dressed in the most ridiculous clothes I'd ever seen in my life, up to and including the curtains Caspian had worn three years ago when Ed and I had left Narnia, had begun addressing Caspian in an equally pompous voice. When he spoke, the turban perched precariously on his head wobbled like an outsized jelly, and when I caught Ed's eye I saw he was just as close to laughing as I was.

"I am King Mauriss, ruler of this glorious nation, and I welcome you to this mighty land." He went on to insinuate, among many flourishes and decorative words, that, to my relief, we were expected to stay there for awhile, or "grace this humble land with his Majesties' high and much coveted presence" and also take part in some form of tournament – "a heroic battle of wits and strength where righteous knights are pitted against each other in life threatening and often terrifying duels of honour: many a lady has been known to faint with fright for their handsome menfolk." This last part was directed at Susan and I, and we hurriedly assured him that we would be in need of no "smelling salts or other delicacies such ladies favour in times of horror and need" as he put it. The whole while he was talking he reminded me of someone, and I couldn't think who. It was only when he turned to lead us to his "dear place of residence, which one hopes that your majesties will not find too below their usual standards", while Caspian assured him that, having lived on a boat for two days, anything would be good enough, that I realised who it was. Back in England I had watched a film called "Madagascar" with my sister, in which a group of zoo animals find themselves stranded in said eponymous country, in the company of a group of lemurs ruled over by the flamboyant and narcissistic King Julian. Unfortunately for King Mauriss, he shared not only a temperament and, weirdly enough, accent with the lemur, but also a certain resemblance. I think it was the hat.

We walked for a few minutes, surrounded by guards in ridiculous costumes, keeping back citizens dressed surprisingly normally, considering their ruler, until we reached a huge castle positioned on a sort of hill in order, I imagined, to keep an eye on the subjects.

"Welcome to my humble abode." King Mauriss bowed, and I held back a laugh at the cliché. This guy could make Edgar Allen Poe sound exciting.

We traipsed inside, me looking around the enormous rooms in amazed silence – I could still never get used to the immense palaces that Narnia seemed to be abundant in. "Wow." I whispered, and Ed smiled at me. He wasn't holding my hand, of course – it wasn't considered proper decorum in Narnia to hold someone's hand unless you were at least betrothed, and even then it was frowned upon. We were led into an gigantic hall by King Mauriss and his pompous guards, where he stopped and informed us that we would be shown to our rooms, where we could freshen up, and then the tournament would begin. We exchanged dubious looks at this: none of us had agreed to be in a tournament, although Susan and I would, of course, be expected not to participate. I was shown to a ridiculously large room with much pomp and circumstance and left there to "attend to my toilette."

A few minutes later, there was a knock on my door and Ed came in. "Hey."

"Hi!" He crossed the room and hugged me in greeting, smiling.

"Pete says this King Mauriss guy wants us here for a week."

"A week?" I pulled back, unable to hide my relief "And we're staying, right?"

"Well..." He hesitated "We don't really want to, but Caspian doesn't want to insult anyone. Plus Drinian says it won't put us too far behind schedule."

"Great!" I grinned.

He looked at me suspiciously. "Why?"

"No reason!" I said quickly "I've just... never been to a tournament before. It's exciting!"

"Right..." He looked dubious, but let it go. "Anyway, I just escaped – King Mauriss was introducing Caspian to his daughter who," he looked around rather guiltily "isn't exactly beautiful, or interesting for that matter. In fact, I think poor Caspian is in danger of being bored to death. Apparently, King Mauriss' way of speaking is hereditary."

I laughed. "No way! And he's trying to match-make her with Caspian? No wonder he was so pleased to see us. I knew there was something suspicious about him..."

"Yeah, well. Let's just say the others will be lucky to escape with their sanity."

"And how did you manage to make your daring retreat?"

"I'm too young – it seems Princess Tiana" he put on an airy voice "Is only interested in those of sufficient age, height and status."

"Height?"

"She'd give any of the giants a run for their money. In brains as well."

I giggled despite myself – the giants weren't exactly known for their intellect. "And you don't like tall girls?"

He grinned. "I just like girls to have preferably more than one brain cell. And, if possible, red hair... good sense of humour... nice smile-"

"Major cheese moment!" I cut him off, laughing. "But thanks anyway."

"Cheese?" He looked confused. "Right... cheese... Um, anyway, I'd better go tell Sue when the tournament starts, which was my original intention actually."

"Shouldn't you be telling me when the tournament starts? Or am I not expected to attend?"

"Haven't I told you?"

"Not unless I have the memory of a goldfish which, considering that's two seconds, is unlikely."

"Oh. Well, it begins after dinner this evening. And the banquet beforehand will be at seven. If you'd like, I can meet you before."

I grinned. "And escort me? Why not? Every girl likes a knight in shining armour. I'll see you at seven."

"You know..." he looked worried "I won't actually be wearing armour."

"Figure of speech, Ed. Now go find Susan." I practically pushed him out of my room.

Sighing, I made my way over to the window and flopped onto the cushioned seat which bordered it. Galma was, I reflected, a startlingly beautiful place – shame about its rulers. There was a sundial in the courtyard below, and my best guess from three stories up was that it was somewhere around half five. I needed to start getting ready in about half an hour (I was obsessively early about everything) but until then there was no rush. I shifted so as to better see the gardens below, and something crackled. I realised with surprise that it was the paper I'd picked up outside of Drinian's study. I pulled it out of my purse and surveyed it guiltily: I'd sworn to myself that I wouldn't read it, and that I would return it as soon as possible, but we were docked for a week – who knew when I'd next get the chance? And I was _so_ curious! There was just something about the strange little piece of paper that made me desperate to read it. With a guilty sigh, I unravelled it. It read thus:

_The one who fell fell from the place where home lies_

_And sacrificed all for family ties_

_Must be returned to the land of her birth_

_And will find what she seeks at the end of the earth._

Well, I reasoned, at least this one rhymed, which is more than I could say for the others. Still, it was curious to say the least. A prophesy? What was it doing on the boat? And what did it mean? I pondered the worrying little piece of paper for so long that I ended up being late for the banquet and, consequently, making poor Ed late, too.

The meal was uneventful at best. I was introduced to Mauriss' giant of a daughter, who was exactly as Ed had described her, and Ed and I spent the rest of the meal exchanging pitying glances with Caspian, with whom Princess Tiana seemed quite besotted. Afterwards, we all made our way down to an enormous arena which looked like something out of I, Caesar.

"Hope they won't be sacrificing any Christians." I muttered to Ed, who laughed.

As it was, they didn't. Mauriss opened to tournament by charging at a dummy holding a pole and attempting to knock the pole out of its hand. Needless to say, he only succeeded in losing his own, and ended up in a dusty heap on the floor. It was only Peter and Susan who managed to keep straight faces. Caspian went after Mauriss, a lot more successfully I might add, followed by Peter, Drinian, Ed, and some random knights of Galma. For me, the highlight of the ceremony was just before Ed's turn, when, in a most old-fashioned and chivalrous manner, he saluted me. I couldn't keep the smile off my face for the rest of the evening. Caspian won the tournament that evening, which meant unfortunately that Princess Tiana had to bestow a medal or something on him. He didn't look impressed and, to my delight, neither did Susan.

Ed walked my back to my room afterwards.

"Thanks for saluting me." I giggled, and he grinned.

"You're welcome." We stood there in hesitant silence for a moment, and then he said suddenly "Kes-"

"Ed!" We both jumped about a foot in the air as Peter, king of the excellent timing, came striding down the hallway. "Can I talk to you? Oh, hi Kes."

"Hey, Pete." I sighed.

Ed shifted uncomfortably. "Yeah, just, give me a minute will you?"

Peter seemed to become aware of the situation. "Oh. Did I interrupt something?"

"No!"

"No!"

He looked between the two of us. We had spoken simultaneously. "Riiiiiiight. I'll be in the library, Ed."

Once he'd gone I turned back to Ed. "You were saying?"

"Um, well." He shifted uncomfortably. "I just...Ireallylikeyouandcanwemaybeseeeachother?"

I stared at him. "See each other?"

"I, uh, don't know the modern word for it."

It dawned on me. "You mean date?" I beamed. "You're asking me out?!"

He blinked. "I guess. I mean, yes. I am."

I jumped on him. Okay, so I didn't actually jump on him, but close enough. "Okay!"

"Great!" He grinned. "Now I have to go find Pete. G'night."

"'Night." I closed the door on him, grinning. I still had a stupid grin on my face when I woke the next morning.

The rest of our week in Galma was, frankly, boring. Tournaments are fun enough for a day or so, but they get old quickly. I most enjoyed teasing Caspian about his new one woman fanclub, and hanging around with Ed who, since his random attack of bravery, had become much more happy. I realised he must have been trying to ask me that for weeks. Aww. However, as the last day of our stay drew closer and closer two things were praying on my mind. The first, rather unimportant thing was the weird prophesy I'd discovered. What did it mean? It bugged me, and I couldn't work out why. The second, more pressing issue was that of Amy. I had still had no further word from neither my cousin or Lucy, and was beginning to get worried that she wasn't coming after all. By the evening of the last day I was seriously worried. Lucy'd said sunset – why wasn't she here?

We were making our way back to the ship. Everything was packed and ready. I had tried valiantly to dissuade them, even sinking to lows of hiding people's things and such, but I really couldn't hold them off any longer. Everyone was, understandably, desperate to get off the island. Still, I was trying my best to keep Ed back, pointing out random things to him and tugging on his hand, when Caspian came running past us, heading for the ship.

"Where's the fire?" Ed muttered, and behind us Peter chuckled. Then, we saw the fire. Okay, so it was a bunch of men waving very large swords and yelling, but still.

"What the HELL did you do?!" I yelled at Caspian, who called back over his shoulder

"Mauriss insisted I marry his daughter. I refused, and now they have declared war."

"Ah." We all began to run as well. I skidded round the last corner before the boat, just ahead of Peter and Ed, and stopped stock still. Ed crashed into me and nearly managed to knock us both over, and Peter narrowly avoided doing the same.

"Why aren't you running?" He demanded of me, before following my gaze. There, in front of the Dawn Treader, hands on her hips, was Amy.

"Honestly, I can't leave you alone for a minute, can I?"

The next moment she was in Peter's arms.

**_Once again I cannot apologise enough! *ducks rotten tomatoes*_**

**_- Kes_**


	5. My regime died of dull language

**_OMG! Another update! *faints* Y'know, when I sent my cousin the previous chapter, this was her replying email: "hhaaa caspians curtains lol , laughing so hard ... aha an outsized jelly XD lmao. holding hands is frowned upon .. only in narnia would that be true lol. i like the way you push ed out the room, i can soo see that :) Peter, king of the excellent timing, hhaha that is an ace title lol. OMG OMG OMG he asks you out yesss ahhh , okay when you tell me this in narnia i will dance about not caring where i am and be soo happy :) honestly i cant leave you alone fr a minuit :) yep my kinda line, wooo pete :) its cool i like it . ahh ed asks you outt ed asks you outt !! woo:) when you tell me im soo gunna be knockin one liners your way, haha beware mwahahaha :)"_**

**_That amused me a bit. :) Oh, and btw, the bit where Ed picks me up actually happened to me, only it was Germany not Narnia, a river not the sea, and not Ed. *pouts* And the title is from a poem by Alasdair Gray, entitled A Censor Complains. _**

**_Disclaimer: I don't own Narnia, but, as of today, I do own a Beatles poster signed personally by none other than Astrid Kircherr AND Klaus Vormann! *is excited*  
_**

**Chapter 4: **_**My regime died of dull language**_

We left Galma far behind us. After Amy had appeared seemingly out of nowhere, we had legged it the last few metres onto the boat and set sail hastily, me cheerfully waving goodbye to the rather perturbed soldiers on the quay.

"Well," I observed "They seem happy to see us go." Ed smirked, and Drinian looked between me and my cousin, who was barely visible behind Peter's shoulder.

"Would anyone care to explain?"

"Yeah," Ed turned to Amy "Actually, an explanation would be helpful." Amy didn't look like she'd be surfacing any time soon, so I decided to answer for her. Pulling Lucy's crumpled letter from my boot (my new hiding place, considering my lack of pockets) I coughed.

"Thing is, Lucy sent me a letter-"

"What?" Susan interrupted me. "How?"

"Okay," I frowned at the interruption. "I misphrased that, she didn't send it me, she hid it in one of my books." I held the letter out to show them. "It says that Lucy was trying to persuade Amy to come with us, and that, if she succeeded, we were to wait for Amy on the docks in Galma on the evening of the seventh day into our journey. Only, she was a little late and it ended up being like the eighth or ninth."

I looked to the side and saw Ed's face. Uh oh. "You knew?! You knew she was coming and you didn't tell anyone?"

"The letter says not to! Look!" I showed him the letter, but the hurt in his eyes didn't go away. Dear Ed, so desperate to know every aspect of my life. And I hated keeping secrets from him, really I did.

"And you usually do what Lucy tells you?" I opened my mouth to retort, annoyed at how quickly Ed's moods changed, (honestly, he was worse than a hormonal girl) when Susan beat me to it.

"Oh, would you two stop arguing? Amy's here, isn't she? What does it matter if Kes knew a few days before the rest of us?" Ah, Susan: always the peace maker. Caspian smiled at her fondly, but she turned and shot him a scathing glance before going below.

"Hypocrite." Muttered Ed. We both giggled, and all was right with the world again. Apart from for Caspian, of course. The poor guy looked like he was going to throw himself off the crow's nest. He went off to help Drinian, and Ed, Amy, Peter and I were left on deck. Caspian: the endless romantic. He just needed a little help, was all. Perhaps a plan was in order...

I turned to Ed and raised my eyebrows. "What would you say to a little matchmaking?"

He laughed. "I'd say hell yeah."

"You're as bad as Amy, you realise that?"

"ME?" He feigned innocence. "You suggested it!"

"But you, oh great King Edmund, should know better." I tapped his chest in an attempt at reprimand.

His grin widened. "And what if I don't?"

"Then..." I searched for a suitable threat. "Then... I'll throw you in the sea!"

His peals of laughter rang out across the ship. When he had regained a little composure, he managed "You? Throw me..." (more laughter) "in the sea?!"

I put my hands of my hips and took on a vaguely insulted expression. "Are you saying I can't?"

"I'm saying that if you tried, it wouldn't turn out best for you."

I was still trying to think of a good come-back when Amy finally extracted herself from Peter and came bouncing over. "Kes! We have SO much to talk about!"

"But I've only been gone a week!" I protested as she dragged me off, much to Ed's amusement. I shot him a glare which clearly said 'this isn't over' which only made him laugh even more. Peter looked on in something akin to confusion. It wasn't until later that I realised this was his permanent expression. Amy dragged me below and down several corridors until she ventually found my cabin, which was quite a feat considering she'd never been onboard before, and pushed me inside.

"Tell me everything!"

"Um." I sat down on my bed, automatically smoothing the blankets, and bit my lip. "So... I helped a bit onboard - climbed the crow's nest," I smiled as I remembered Ed's insistence that he join me. "and Ed and I decided to get Caspian and Susan together-"

She cut me off "Yes! Let's make a plan!"

"Now?"

"Why not?"

"I can't think of anything."

"Okay, we'll do it later, and Ed can help. What else happened?"

"Um, I found some weird prophesy,... oh, and Ed asked me out."

"OMG!!" She jumped to her feet and started doing a very strange dance, which vaguely resembled the Time Warp. "YESSSSSSS! FINALLY!" More dancing.

"..." I stared at her. "Should I even ask...?"

"ED FINALLY ASKED YOU OUT!"

I glanced sceptically at the door. "And now everyone knows..."

"I CAN'T BELIEVE IT!!!!"

I swear, I could actually hear the exclamation marks. "Okay. Breathing time now?"

"Right." She sat down. "Sorry. But it's so EXCITING!"

I grinned, thinking how different, and yet how similar Amy and I were. "Yeah, it is rather."

She grinned. "I'd say a one-liner, but I can't think of one."

I rolled my eyes. "Thank god."

"So anyway, a prophesy?"

"Oh yeah! Um," I struggled to remember. "The one who fell from the place where home lies/ And sacrificed all for family ties/ Must be returned to the land of her birth/ And will find what she seeks at the end of the earth."

"Well, that's..."

"Ominous. Tell me about it."

"Where'd you find it?"

"Um," I squirmed. "Nowhere." She waited. "Okay! So I was in Drinain's office, but still..."

She gave me a look. "Ah, don't worry about it. Probably doesn't mean anything."

I nodded my agreement, but secretly I couldn't help but wonder. She left to find Pete, again, and I was left alone. Stretching, I decided to return the dratted piece of paper to Drinian's office. I reached into my purse to take it out. It wasn't there. Panicking, I turned the purse inside out: nothing. I took off my boots and turned them upside down, but there was still nothing. What?! Where was the prophesy?! After a few minutes of frantic searching, I began to wonder if I'd dreamt the whole thing. Surely not: I could still remember the whole prophesy! My imagination was good, but not that good. Confused, I went up on deck to look.

"Afternoon Kes." Drinain greeted me with a quiet smile.

I almost asked him if he'd seen it lying around and returned it to one of his books, but that was as good as admitting I'd taken it. Guilt stopped me. "Hey Drinian."

I carried on across the deck. Marin the faun and Glenstorm were talking quietly, and shut up pretty quickly when I approached them. Needless to say, I was a little worried. "Um, hi guys."

Glenstorm nodded regally, and Marin smiled, slightly nervously I thought. But then, I was more than a little paranoid.

"Have, uh, you seen some... parchment... anywhere?" Both shook their heads, and my answering smile was a little jittery. "Okay. Thanks."

I carried on across the ship, but got no further, because someone (*cough* Ed *cough*) picked me up from behind, slung me unceremoniously over his shoulder, went over to the side of the boat and leant over the edge dangerously with an evil laugh.

"ED!" I squealed girlishly – I was NOT going to get wet. "PUT. ME. DOWN."

"What's the magic word?"

I pouted and he leant further out over the water. "Okay, okay fine! Please?"

"Please what?"

Gees, this was getting more clichéd by the minute. "Please put me down?"

"And if I do...?"

"I'll do anything!"

"Anything?"

Right. I had had enough of this. Grinning evilly, I leant forward, (which for him was backwards) as far as I could over his shoulder. Just as I had intended, he lost his balance and we both fell back (or forward in my case) onto the deck. "Ha!" I jumped to my feet. "That'll teach you no to mess with me!"

He grinned. "Okay, you win." I beamed, and he continued. "This time."

"Every time." He raised an eyebrow, and I smirked. "You know girls always win, Ed. Our egg fight should have taught you that."

"But that was on land. At sea, the rules are completely different." He got up off the floor.

"Is that a challenge?"

He grinned. "I believe it is."

"You're on." Grinning at this new, amusing game, I left and went back down below.

My good mood evaporated when I saw the prophesy sat neatly on my bed. What the hell? How did it get there?! I crossed the room and re-read it with mounting confusion. I puzzled over it in my head. 'The one who fell from the place where home lies', well, that was relatively obvious. Said person didn't come from Narnia and fell from wherever they did come from. Maybe a bird? Or a griffin? That would make sense if they fell from the sky. 'And sacrificed all for family ties' Perhaps they fell to save one of their family? That one I couldn't figure out. 'Must be returned to the land of her birth' so it was definitely a girl. And this backed up my theory that said girl didn't come from Narnia, and had to go back and... hold on. Dread chilled me to the bone. Oh my God. It took all I had not to scream out loud. NO. NOT AGAIN! I held back a sob. Trying to keep calm, I thought through the whole thing again. A girl who doesn't come from Narnia and fell from her true home. (Flashbacks of a library, a book, a beach flooded my head) A girl who gave up everything for one of her family. ("No. I'll go." "NO!") A girl who was going home.

Oh God.

It was me.

**_Sorry this one's a bit shorter than the others: I wanted the dramatic ending. :)_**

**_R&R?_**

**_- Kes_**


	6. A valediction: forbidding mourning

_**Right, do we want the good news or the bad news? Good news: I've updated! Bad news: It's the shortest yet, and it may be the last for a while. *hides* I know, I know, I'm a terrible author and I'm very sorry. Thing is, I've just started sixth form and we get a LOT of homework. Also, we're moving, so I have like no free time at all. So, the free time that I did have I spent doing this! Be proud of me! :)**_

**_Poem's by John Donne, entitled _****A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning. Oh, and all that stuff about the beds was planned in bullet points by my cousin. She then proceeded to leave it on the work top. Her dad read it. It was... interesting. **

**_Disclaimer: If any of you are lawyers, you don't sue and I won't tell your boss you've been using the office computer to read fanfic. _**

_**Chapter 5: **_**A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning**

I couldn't believe it. The world was falling down around me. My restraint was slipping, and very soon now I was going to break down. NO. This could not be happening. I sat there on my little bed, feeling the ship shift and lurch beneath me, and suddenly wished I were anywhere else. I wished I had never come to Narnia. I wished I'd never even heard of it. All it had caused me was pain! I remembered the feeling of being entirely alone that I had suffered from so badly last time. I remembered how much I'd missed my cousin, and Caspian and the Pevensies. And Ed. Oh God. Ed. I couldn't leave him again. A hysterical scream rose in my throat. I curled into a tight ball, fist closed around that evil piece of paper, and sobbed and sobbed and sobbed.

I don't know how long I lay there, crying out my anger and hurt and betrayal, before I fell into an exhausted sleep. When I awoke, hours later, it was dark. Trying desperately to ignore the Narnia shaped hole inside me, I crossed to my washbasin and attempted to wash all traces of my breakdown off my face, because I had woken up resolved. I was leaving, there was no avoiding that, and I had had my breakdown, I had cried it all out, and now I was going to fight it. I had no way of knowing how long I had left, but I was going to make the most of it. Never again would I breathe Narnian air without being grateful that I could. And more importantly, no one would know. No one could know.

Ed would freak, that much was certain. He knew how much it hurt having to go back, and I couldn't do that to him. He was naively happy in the certainty we would be staying, and I wasn't going to ruin that. I would make the most of every single moment I had left with him. Amy would, well, she would... she'd be hysterical. So no way I was going to tell her. The rest of them would be anxious and pitying, like before, and I didn't think I could put up with that. No use in wasting the rest of my time in sadness and depression. It would be hard, but I would do it. For me.

The End of the Earth. I had until there. That was enough. It would have to be. A voice inside me screamed that it wasn't enough! It wasn't fair! I wasn't going to leave again! I ignored it. WHY? It screamed. I ignored it. There was no why. It was, therefore it had to be. Thanking Aslan for the drama GCSE I'd taken back in England (home again now) I put on a calm facade I didn't intend to drop and left my cabin. Silently, allowing myself a few more moments pain, I made my way down the corridor, stopping when my name was called.

"Hey Kes!" It was Amy, in Pete and Ed's room. "Where've you been?"

I went into the room and sat down on Ed's bed. "Nowhere." Here was the test of my act. Amy knew me almost as well as my own mother (who I'd see again now) and would notice if my act slipped even a little. "What are you doing?"

"Unpacking."

"In Ed and Pete's room?"

"Pete told me he'd kick Ed out so I could sleep in here."

"Oh." Of course – they were married now after all. Funny, somehow I'd been looking forward to sharing a cabin with my cousin again, just like the old days.

She glanced at me. "I'll share a room with you if you want, I don't mind..."

"No." I forced a smile. "You're married now, you ought to sleep with your husband." I hesitated, and then we both laughed at my misphrasing. "Okay, you know what I meant. Anyway, you guys are only a couple cabins down."

She went to answer, when Pete walked in suddenly. "Hello Ladies, don't mind me." I repressed a giggle at 'Ladies' and watched in amusement as Peter started to move his bed into the centre of the room. Then he turned, politely asked me to move, and proceeded to move Ed's, or rather Amy's bed, so that it was right next to his own. The two single beds were now a double bed.

I exchanged a look with my cousin. "Men. They only ever think of one thing."

"I don't think I really want to know what you guys are talking about." Ed stepped into the room and stopped next to me. Pain shot through me as I realised I was already memorising his face. "Pete, what are you doing to our room?! I know you're lonely, but there's no way I'm sleeping with you."

I laughed genuinely this time, as Pete went bright red, and hastened to correct him. "Not you, idiot, Amy."

Amy was laughing, too. "Sorry Ed, Pete won't take no for an answer."

Ed shrugged and grinned at me. "It's okay, now I won't have to listen to him snore." I laughed, and received a sweet smile in return. Amy smirked.

"Y'know Ed, Kes has a spare bed in her room..." Peter's head shot up quicker than you could say 'NO!' and I turned as red as my hair. Amy continued. "You could stay with her, I'm sure she wouldn't mind."

Ed shifted and went to speak but Peter, with typical Peterness, jumped in. "No way! Kes can stay with Sue and Ed can have Kes' room."

Amy turned to him appealingly, and Ed and I watched in silence as they argued over our sleeping arrangements. Bloody parents. "Pete, c'mon, they're 18!"

"I don't care! We had to wait and so can you!"

I hid behind my hair. Wait. If only they knew. Ed raised an eyebrow. "Wait for what, exactly?"

Peter, apparently unfazed by the fact that his younger brother and wife's cousin were watching, i.e. potentially mentally damaging for them, put his arms around Amy and whispered something in her ear which made her giggle. Inappropriately. I jumped to my feet.

"I think it's time we leave." Ed took my hand, causing a sharp tug at my heart, which I pushed away, and led me out of the room. I leant back round the door to call out "Remember the walls are thin, guys!" Their laughter echoed down the corridor.

Ed and I walked down the corridor and stopped outside my soon to be ex-cabin. I realised Ed still had hold of my hand, and dropped it quickly. Hurt flashed across his face quickly before he hid it, and his features became smooth again. I didn't want to hurt him, but I didn't want to become too much closer to him, either. It would only hurt more later.

"D'you want any help pacing your stuff up?"

"Nah." I shrugged it off casually. "'Sfine – I'll get Sue to help."

He nodded, and headed off down the corridor, taking my slowly breaking heart with him.

Later on, when I'd found Susan and together we'd moved all (I say all, but it wasn't much) my stuff, I headed up onto deck to find it almost deserted. Caspian would be below with Drinian, planning the rest of the trip, Amy and Pete were clearly still... occupied, and everyone else must be eating. I couldn't stomach the thought of food right now. Glenstorm was up on the poop deck, steering placidly, and I waved at him as I headed down to the other end, in need of some space. The sky was very black, and the stars brighter than I'd ever seen them. I leant against the edge and counted them slowly, willing myself to remember each and every one. If the ocean gained a few more drops of saltwater that night, at least it meant a part of me remained here. Suddenly, I became aware of a presence beside me. I turned from the dark night and was met with Ed's equally deep eyes.

"Hello." He said softly.

"Hi."

"What's wrong?"

It caught me off-guard, and I turned to him sharply. "Why would you think anything's wrong?"

"You seem sad."

"Well, I'm not." I corrected him, and turned back to look at the stars. "Aren't they bright?"

He noted the subject change, but allowed. "Much brighter than in England. Stars always seem bigger at sea."

"That's because everything else seems smaller."

"Everything?"

"Everything. Like..." I searched for an example. "Like the world."

He didn't miss a beat. "You look the same size to me."

I stared at him for an endless second, and then the tears came. Oh God, I'd tried so hard to keep in control, but this boy with his endearing mannerisms and beautiful eyes had a hold over me that was frightening.

"Hey!" He pulled me into his arms. "Don't cry! I didn't mean to upset you!"

"No." I shook my head against his chest. "It wasn't you. It's just..." I couldn't tell him. Not now. I just couldn't. "It's just, you know how much you mean to me, right?"

He smiled gently. "Of course. At least, I know how much _you_ mean to _me_."

I shook my head. "You don't understand. Just seeing you every day..." I trailed off, reddening, as I realised how much I sounded like one of those cheesy rom-coms I used to watch (would watch again now) "You mean a lot."

He hugged me tighter. "You mean a lot to me, as well."

We stood there in the dark, watching the stars change position, and an old poem came to me. John Donne.

Moving of th' earth brings harms and fears;  
Men reckon what it did, and meant;  
But trepidation of the spheres,  
Though greater far, is innocent.

Dull sublunary lovers' love  
—Whose soul is sense—cannot admit  
Absence, because it doth remove  
The thing which elemented it.

But we by a love so much refin'd,  
That we ourselves know not what it is,  
Inter-assurèd of the mind,  
Care less, eyes, lips and hands to miss.

Our two souls therefore, which are one,  
Though I must go, endure not yet  
A breach, but an expansion,  
Like gold to aery thinness beat.

If they be two, they are two so  
As stiff twin compasses are two ;  
Thy soul, the fix'd foot, makes no show  
To move, but doth, if th' other do.

And though it in the centre sit,  
Yet, when the other far doth roam  
It leans, and hearkens after it,  
And grows erect, as that comes home.

Such wilt thou be to me, who must,  
Like th'other foot, obliquely run;  
Thy firmness draws my circle just,  
And makes me end where I begunne.

**_*cries*_**

**_R&R?_**

**_- Kes_**


	7. Warm are the still and lucky miles

**_I'm back again! Sorry, I've been working on an anthology. :) Not to mention freaking coursework. Still. This chapter is like a massive ball of fluff, but whatever. Enjoy! (I hope)_**

**_Disclaimer: C.S. Lewis was never forced to do coursework, and the title is from an absolutely perfect (for this chapter) W.H. Auden poem: seriously. 'Tis oddly great. Ah well, great minds think alike. _**

**_Chapter 6:_ Warm are the still and lucky miles**

The next day we docked in Terabinthia. Kind of. Basically, we reached the island, all desperate for the chance to walk on solid land again, and were informed by a worried looking Terabinthian that everyone was ill, and therefore we couldn't dock. This, of course, greatly improved our spirits.

"You're kidding." Amy, looking distinctly green, slipped through the sailors to where Drinian stood. "You mean we can't get off the boat?!"

"Well..." He hesitated. "We can't go into the town, as the illness is highly contagious, and they're afraid of it spreading, but I suppose we could dock in a bay nearby for a few days, if-"

"Oh my God, please!" Amy interrupted him, and Drinian broke into a smile.

"Glad to see I have such sea-loving Narnians on my boat. Alright, there's a beach a few miles down which would make a suitable dock while we rested for a few days. We could send for supplies, too."

I smiled: Amy never had been comfortable on boats. "Landlubber." I whispered to her as she turned to go, and she stuck her tongue out in return. Narnians. Drinian had called us Narnians. Mentally, I kicked myself. Stupid Kes! Stop thinking about it! Get over it and move _on_! Great, now I was talking to myself. Rolling my eyes, I followed Drinian to the poop deck, as the sailors dispersed to do their various duties. Many looked pleased to be docking, I noted, not least Reepicheep and Glenstorm, who were not naturally sea faring creatures. Drinian, who was now steering the ship around the headland towards the bay, smiled kindly when he saw me coming.

"What can I do for you, Kes?"

"Well," I scuffed my shoe on the deck. "Are we... I mean, are we going to the End of the World?"

He froze, startled. "Why... why would you ask that?"

...and will find what she seeks at the end of the earth. "No reason."

"Well, I'm afraid not. The End of the World is, well, exactly what it sounds like: we would be in danger of falling off."

In other circumstances, I might have found that funny, only of course, now it wasn't. "Oh, okay. Thanks, Drinian." I wandered off, rather aimlessly, sensing his troubled gaze on my retreating back. He would definitely be telling someone about this.

Sure enough, not even half an hour later, Caspian knocked on the door of mine and Susan's cabin and, at my "Come in", entered hesitantly. Most probably it was improper, in Narnia, for one to enter a girl's chamber.

"Is, uh, is everything alright, Kes?"

"Yes." I looked up from the scroll of parchment on which I was mapping out as much of Terabinthia as I could see from my window and feigned innocence. "Of course. Why wouldn't it be?"

"Oh." He looked uncomfortable. Poor guy – Drinian should've told Ed, he'd have got straight to the point. "It's just... Captain Drinian inform- uh, accidentally let slip, that you had asked about the End of the World, and I was just wondering why."

I put my parchment down and stood up. "Look Caspian, I am not in any way ill, disturbed or otherwise in need of help. Already Drinian has asked me all this, and I told him exactly the same thing that I'm about to tell you: no reason. I just _wondered_. It was an innocent question, okay? Just... random! So leave it!" Caspian stared at me. Okay, so I was a little harsh. Okay, so a lot. Touchy subject. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to snap at you."

He recovered. "Oh no, it's quite alright, really. I was just a little... surprised."

"Yes," I smiled. "Bad day, y'know?" Bad day. Pfft. More like bad week.

"Of course. I shall leave you to your drawing."

"Hey, Caspian – wait." He turned back to me. "Susan was asking me before if I knew anything about Terabinthia or the illness they seem to have. She's terribly worried about the Terabinthians, what with her being so... nurturing and all. I'm sure she'd love it if you were to be able to enlighten her a little: she'd be very grateful." Caspian was out of my room like a shot. "She's in the galley!" I called after him, laughing as I heard a thumb which surely had to be his torso and a wall. Perhaps I wasn't the only clumsy one around here. Still smiling to myself, I gathered up my papers and shoved them in the drawer next to my bed, then I glanced out of the window: we'd be docking – kind of – relatively soon. Grabbing a shawl, I turned and headed out of my cabin, on the way to the deck. Unfortunately, I never got there.

Caspian had closed my door when he'd left to find Susan, so I had to open it (obviously) to leave. This I did, pushing it forward, and was rewarded not by a pleasant view of the corridor and a fresh sea breeze, but by a tonne of water – COLD water – falling on my head. I froze in a kind of comic disorientation, until a bucket clattered to the floor next to me. Oh. _Oh_. He DIDN'T.

He did. Muffled hysterics spilled out from behind the ajar door, and as I swung it closed again behind me, Ed collapsed against the corridor wall, gasping for breath and practically dying with laughter. Standing there, soaking wet, staring at the laughing boy who had made me so very sopping, I loved him more than ever. Still, that didn't mean he was getting away with it. No way. I picked up the bucket and swung it threateningly, which got his attention. He was scrabbling to his feet and skidding off down the corridor before I could so much as begin to kick his butt. Not that I would – or could – have, but he so didn't need to know that.

"Ed. You're so dead!" This produced merely more giggles from him, as he stumbled down the wooden corridor, so I legged it after him. He ran round the corner and saw the stairs leading up to the deck. It was at this point that he made a rather unwise decision. Instead of running on, he stopped and began to climb to the deck. At which point, of course, I caught him. Now, realistically, there wasn't all that much that I could actually do: he was bigger, taller and stronger than me. I did, however, have one secret weapon. I was a girl. I know, I know, well done me. I had no hope if it had taken me that long to figure out. Seriously though, it gave me a very good advantage. I grabbed him and, as he was about to do something very manly like pick me up or something, I beat him to it. By kissing him. (!!!) Alright, so I practically fainted later, when I considered how very forward this was of me – me! – but whatever. I was totally different now. Carpe Diem, to quote my cousin so very long ago. Ed reacted by first freezing in shock, and then responding, at which point, I pulled away, smiled at him sweetly, and dropped the bucket, which I conveniently still had hold of, over his head.

When Ed and I emerged on deck a few minutes later, both rather wet, although me considerably more than him, of course, everyone was getting very excited and rushing around, throwing ropes around and doing other things that sailors do, which meant that our state of... well, our general state might have gone unnoticed had my cousin not spun around and yelled across the ship "Okay, what have you two been doing now?" which of course caused the whole crew plus Susan and Caspian (sweetly ensconced in a corner) to turn and stare at us. Well. Thanks.

Thankfully, before anyone could push it much further, Glenstorm cleared his throat and announced that we were literally docking, like now. We all heaved the anchor overboard, something I'd always wanted to do, and then set about deciding who was to have the first few steps on land. In the end, it was decided that the Pevensies, Amy and I and Caspian would take the first small boat, whilst Drinian, Glenstorm, Marin the faun, first mate Rhince and Reepicheep would follow in the second. Everyone else would take their turn tomorrow, once we had explored a little and found water and so on.

So it was that, exuberant as I was, I jumped out of the boat whilst the water was still up to my chest and waded to the shore, (well, I was already wet) meaning that I was the first person to stand on Terabinthia.

"I claim this land for Narnia!" I yelled, and the others all piled out of the boats, laughing. Ed wrapped his arms around my waist from behind, and bent his head to my ear, whispering, so that only I could hear "And I claim this land for you. This and any other – you deserve the world."

I melted.

**_Ah, the OOCness. *cringes* Ah well. I'm out of practise, think I need to watch PC again. Either that or they need to HURRY UP AND RELEASE THE DAWN TREADER! (next year *sob*)_**

**_R&R?_**

**_- Kes_**


	8. The splendour falls

_**Last one. I'm sorry! But A-Levels are catching up with me, and it's taking so long for me to update, that I'm just gonna have to put this on hold. Thank you all for reading and reviewing, and hopefully I'll have more time in Summer.**_

**_Title's Tennyson's. Narnia's C.S. Lewis'._**

_**Chapter 7**_**: The Splendour Falls**

Terabinthia was nice, and, of course, saved forever in my memory as the sight of Ed's cheesiest moment _ever, _but eventually we had to move on. After three blissful days of being on dry land, the swaying feeling that had been in my head constantly ever since we set out from Narnia, eventually began to subside, but my relief at this fact was short lived.

"Oh, come on." I begged Drinian's retreating back, as we all traipsed back up the gang plank. "One more day? Please?"

Ed laughed. "You seem to have lost your sea-legs."

"Aye, Mr. Pirate," I rolled my eyes. "landlubbers like myself are infinitely inferior to sea-fearing folk like you."

"Pirates?" Amy chipped in. "Are there even any pirates in Narnia?"

Caspian spoke up from behind us. "Of course. I fear for the Lords which Miraz sent away – they would have been defenceless if attacked."

"Attacked?" I swallowed nervously, but Caspian didn't answer. He had, of course, turned to help Susan onto the deck, upon which we were now all stood.

"Don't worry." I turned to find Rhince at my shoulder. "We haven't seen pirates in these parts for years."

"Nah, I'm not worried. Peter Pan was my favourite movie when I was a kid – I'm sure I could summon the crocodile if I needed to." I assured him, only to receive a blank look. "Yeah... nevermind."

He smiled and shuffled off, shaking his head. Amy took his place. "Shall we put our evil plan into action?"

I turned to follow her gaze, to where Susan was thanking Caspian. We didn't actually have a plan, but that was _so_ besides the point. "I'm thinking: definitely yes."

"Great."

"Yep."

"So..."

"Yeah, I know. We probably need an actual plan first."

"Yeah."

"Oh well," I grinned. "whilst we ponder that, I could do with drawing Terabinthia." I disappeared below, and re-emerged moments later with my drawing things. As I sat on the deck and scribbled away, (so I wasn't an artist, but I didn't see anyone else with a pencil in their hand) Amy leant against the rail next to me and voiced random thoughts aloud. Not too loud, though, because Caspian and Susan were stood with Drinian at the helm, a little further down the ship. Peter and Ed were practising their duelling skills, and Amy's monologue trailed off often, that is, whenever she got distracted by the sight of her husband leaping around dramatically (over-dramatically) and attempting to beat the crap out of my boyfriend. Wow, that was weird. It was weird to call Ed that. Anyway, moving on. Trying being the operative word. Ed was lethal with a sword – remind me never to get on his bad side.

"...or we could lock them in a room, but that's kinda old school... or we could... yeah..." Clearly, Amy was getting more and more distracted as the fight progressed. I wondered vaguely what Peter had done to distract her so. Probably taken his shirt off or something. Honestly, that boy.

"D'you know when we'll get to the Seven Isles?" I murmured to her, taking the opportunity of her momentary distraction to cut in. "Amy?" I turned to her, only to find she'd disappeared. "Amy?" I craned my head around, then pushed my map-in-progress off my knees and got to my feet. Everyone was gone. "Okay, what the hell?!" My first thought was that I had gone back, already, and I immediately regretted not saying goodbye, but the boat was still there, so unless I'd somehow managed to commandeer the boat as well, and left them all floundering in water, which was unlikely, that clearly wasn't the answer. I looked to the helm, but Caspian, Sue and Drinian had disappeared. Panicking, I spun on my heel, skidded, regained my balance, and legged it towards the other end of the ship. I hadn't been able to see to poop deck, because the mast and the cabins had been in the way, but as it came into sight I relaxed. Momentarily.

Sure enough, practically all of the crew were gathered at the end of the ship, so it was surprising that it hadn't tipped towards that end like the Titanic or something, and they were all arguing agitatedly and staring at something in the distance. I squinted, but couldn't make it out. Ed turned and saw me.

"Kes." I refrained from replying 'That's my name – don't wear it out.' as such a clearly serious situation was hardly time for Grease quoting, and went over to them all.

"What's going on? Why's everyone here? What's the matter?"

Caspian turned to me gravely. "Look." He pointed to the horizon. I turned to follow all of their gazes, and finally saw what it was that they'd all been staring at: a ship.

"A ship. Oh, that's nice. Maybe we know them? Are they from Terabinthia? Oh, no! Perhaps they're from Galma. If so we'd better speed up..." I trailed off when I realised everyone was staring at me like I was stupid. "What?"

Drinian, tight-lipped, answered. "They're pirates."

"Pirates?!" I started. "Then where's their skull-and-cross bones?!"

"Thank you!" Amy through her arms up. "That's what I said, and they all looked at me like I was stupid!"

"I know the feeling." I muttered. "Listen, what are we gonna do?"

"We can't outrun them." This from Rhince.

"Well, we can't fight." Susan.

"Why not?" Reepicheep, of course. "I say we take 'em!"

"No." Cut in Caspian. "We want to avoid bloodshed."

I tried frantically to remember Pirates of the Caribbean – what had they done? Unfortunately, I had been way too focused on Orlando Bloom in pirates' clothes at the time, and could remember nothing beyond: "Gentlemen, you will always remember this as the day you almost caught Captain Jack Sparrow." Real helpful, Kes.

"...we have to try." Apparently, they had reached a decision, which, judging from the way everyone began rushing around, was to attempt to out-run them. I'm sure they did that in POTC. Oh, well.

"Kes, keep watch!" Yelled Ed, as he dashed off after Peter and the others.

"Right!" I ran to the crow's nest and began to climb. Amy ran after me.

"Hey! Don't leave me here."

"Come up, then."

She looked at the rope. "I don't think so."

"Sorry!" I continued further up, and scrambled into the nest. "Crap." The boat was closer than before, despite our increased speed. "_AMY! TELL CASPIAN THEY'RE GAINING ON US_!"

She rushed off, then came back."_HE SAYS: HOW CLOSE_?"

"_UMM..._" I frowned_. "'BOUT TWO BOATS' LENGTH."_

She relayed this information to Caspian, then rushed back. "_WE HAVE TO FIGHT!"_

"Shoot." I looked at the boat, which was now barely more than one boat away._ "I'LL BE RIGHT DOWN!"_

She legged it to the poop deck, to see how close the boat was. I turned to climb out of the crow's nest, slipped and smacked my head. For the second time since I'd got to Narnia, I blacked out. When I came to, the lower deck was chaos. Disorientated, I struggled to my feet and looked, swaying, over the side. It was a battlefield. "Damn!" I forced myself to climb over the edge, despite my double vision, and managed to half climb, half fall down to the deck, where I grabbed a sword from beside the mast (not that it would do me much good) and began to try to find my cousin.

"Amy!" I called, ducking between pirates and crew members. A particularly frightening looking pirate, complete with eye-patch ad everything backed me into a corner, but Peter swooped in at the last moment and saved me.

"Find Amy!" He grunted at me over his shoulder, as he struggled with the pirate. I nodded, and dived past them, trying desperately to see what the hell was going on.

Suddenly, a whistle echoed over the deck, and the pirates, practically as one, turned tail and ran. We all froze, momentarily disorientated. Why where they leaving? Then I saw. Among the pirates swarming across from the Dawn Treader to their own, two had hold of something, wrapped up in a hessian sack, which was struggling profusely. And I would recognise the profanities which were coming from that sack anywhere. They had Amy.

I leapt forward across the deck, but I'd moved too quickly – still dizzy from my black-out, I swayed and fell. Ed was immediately by my side, but I pushed him away and jumped back up again.

"They've got Amy!"

"WHAT?!" He was beside me as we ran towards the poop deck, but it was too late. The pirates had pulled up the gang plank and were even now sailing away.

"We have to follow them!" He ordered Marin, who was scrambling to his feet beside us. The fawn followed his gaze, nodded, and went to find Drinian, who was nursing a cut leg. Ed ran to the helm and began to turn the ship around. Peter was beside me then, screaming after the pirates, and looking like he was about to through himself into the water. All around us, the crew gradually struggled back to life – nursing wounds and getting to their feet, as the boat swung round and set off in swift pursuit of the pirate ship.

We would catch them, we would kick their butts, and we would get Amy back.

**_I know, I'm evil. I'm also really sorry, though..._**

**_Previews?_**

* * *

"Amy! Are you okay?!"

"I'm fine! But guess what!" A dramatic pause ensued. "I climbed a fence!"

Silence.

* * *

"You're joking."

"What? Ed, I don't get it. Who is that?"

"That," he turned to me grimly. "Is my cousin, Useless. I mean Eustace."

I looked at the snivelling boy on the deck before me. "Oh. Hello, Eustace."

**

* * *

**

"What is it? You're nervous - what's wrong, Ed?"

It all came out in a blurted rush. "Marry me!"

I froze.

* * *

"The prophecy?" I frowned "What do you mean I got it wrong?"

* * *

"Where are we?"

"The question is not where, but why."

"Aslan!"

* * *

"You know," I said softly "when I was younger I used to dream about the perfect world."

"Yeah?" Pete raised his eys to mine.

"Yeah. It had all the usual crap, like world peace and making poverty history and all that, but I do remember something else."

"What's that?"

"I decidied there'd be no love."

"No love?!" He looked surprised, like that wasn't what he was expecting at all.

"Yes." I dropped my eyes. "Because without love, there would be no pain."

When I looked up again, I was surprised to see his cheeks were wet. "No pain." He choked out. "That sounds nice."

But we weren't young anymore, and there was no perfect world. No perfect world at all.

* * *

**_*cries* I must put my Narnianess to rest for awhile. *mourns Goodbye, Ed._**

**_R&R?_**

**_- Kes_**


	9. Blue Remembered Hills

**Hello! Right, I need an essay to say everything I need to say. Please read this, as it will be important, and then I'll get on with the story, I promise.**

**Firstly, I'm back! And I love you all so much! Your reviews have seriously been amazing, and I know that I haven't replied to them for ages, and I shan't bore you by doing it here, but they're what inspired me not to just give up on this story. You have all made me smile and laugh so much, so thank you.**

**As for updates: I am currently doing my A2 Levels, so, admittedly, this is not exactly the best time to restart this story. However, the film is coming out soon, and I think I'll probably want to restart it anyway, SO, we have some options, and I would really appreciate your opinions.**

**I have written the beginning of this chapter for an experiment in Amy's POV. Now, it takes me a lot longer to write in her POV, and would therefore mean slower updates. Shall I a) continue just in Kes' POV, b) continue is Kes' POV and have occasional random Amy bits, like in the prologue, just every few chapters or so, c) have an Amy section. I don't really like c, it's way too Twilight-y, and would take me forever, but I shall put it out there for consideration. **

**IMPORTANT: I have lost all of my notes for the beginning of this story. Stupid, I know, but we redecorated my room and they've disappeared. I was holding out hope for finding them, but alas it wasn't to be. SO – shall I, after this chapter, a) do a brief summary of what happens between now and the film, in Kes' words, and then start where C.S. Lewis actually started, with Eustace falling into Narnia, b) skip the bits in between, and basically write "the next few weeks passed unevenfully, until, one day, we all got rather a nasty shock" and cue – Useless Eustace c) rewrite all of my notes (which I wrote two years ago and cannot remember) and try to write in as much detail up to the beginning of the book, and then continue. Please note, once again, I hate the idea of c, and it will make updates really really slow.**

**Eustace – should Lucy come with him? Not sure how that'd work, she have to have gone back to England and come back to Narnia again, but w/e, this is fanfic world. **

**Oh, and I wrote a Narnia outtake "The Cornwall Adventures" for my cousin's birthday, and it's basically total parody and a giant madness-fest, but if you like I can post it for Christmas or something – let me know.**

**Anyway, so once again thank you so much, and my profuse apologies for being a terrible author. I am, however, now an actual poet! Seriously – people pay me. :D**

**Oh, and one more thing, after this chapter, it'll probably be a month until the next one (Oxford admissions etc etc) so bear with me. Although, you never know with me – I'm about as predictable as Ed's mood changes.**

**On with the story!**

_**Chapter 8: **_**Blue Remembered Hills**

**PART 2 – Amy's POV**

Right. This is just great. I mean – kidnapped. Really? What sort of a rubbish cliché is that? In the last book (really need to stop thinking of this life as books!) I was a) killed, and b) (let's face it) a little bit over-girly 'bout the whole Peter thing. So, you can understand that, right now, I've got some serious ass kicking to do. But still - pirates! Cool! Pretty rubbish pirates, I mean, no Johnny Depp or anything, not even Orlando Bloom, but still, pirates all the same. Hold on, hold on. There are so many fitter people than Johnny Depp. Who would make a good pirate? Hmmm… Aaron Johnson? Sean Biggerstaff? No, that's Harry Potter. Um, Narnia – wait, I know! James McAvoy! Oh, hold on. Hm. Mr. Tumnus. That's weird. Anyway, back to the point – life threatening situation here. So, I am not going to play the bimbo kidnapped girl – so me, I do not think.

"Argh." (Argh? Who says that?) says the seeming pirate chief, at least, he's the worst dressed, and the most camp looking. "Argh, now we have you, Queen Susan."

Oh, come on! Queen Susan? If you're going to kidnap a girl, at least kidnap the right one! I can't believe it! I've been accidentally kidnapped! Freaking typical.

"I'm not Susan, you muppet, I'm Amy." They look clueless, so I slow down. "A-my. Ay... mee."

Honestly, these guys have got to be the worst pirates ever. Not only have they kidnapped the wrong girl, they've now all grouped 'round that wrong girl, and therefore are quite oblivious to my lovely husband catching up very quickly to their rubbish little pirate ship. Not even a skull and crossbones – please.

"Err," the captain looks panicky. "Lock 'er in the brig."

"The brig?" How not impressed am I? I'm seized by two hairy tattooed men (and then by four when I successfully beat the crap out of those two) and dragged, kicking and (literally) screaming, down to "The Brig". Luckily, I'm a resourceful girl, and the hair grip in my hair will do quite nicely to release me once the smelly men have gone away. This time, I'm not waiting to be rescued. This time, I'm Amy – warrior queen! Okay, getting carried away here, that's a bit too Lara Croft, but whatever: Kes always gets to have the adventure. It's my turn.

The pirates wander off to do whatever it is pirates do, and I pull my hairclip out of my hair and set to escaping, when suddenly, I find myself blinded. Wow, reading that back over it sounds massively dramatic. Don't worry people – it's just my hair. Fringe is too long; it's hard to get a good hairdresser in Narnia, you know. Anyway, so having pushed it back, I fiddle around with the lock absently for a bit, until suddenly, it clicks. Wow, that only actually ever works in films. Impressive. Go me! Yeah, I'd give myself a high-five, but I'm not three years old. Damn.

So anyway, I slide the clip back into my hair (I can see again!) and wander down the corridor towards the light. I know, I know, don't go towards the light! 'Salright, it's just the light from the deck, and 'sides, there's a lot of noise coming from there. Yells and stuff. Hmm. Wonder what... Oh! Peter! Finally, the cavalry have arrived! I turn a corner, and find myself faced with, of all things... a fence.

Okay, I know, so it's not exactly Mission: Impossible, but Kes and I had this thing when we were kids. So basically, her Granny (on her Dad's side – not related to me) has like this crazy house in Cornwall, with all these fields and streams and stuff, and Kes had pretty much grown up there, and is used to running through wet grass and climbing trees and jumping over rivers etc, but I'm not. And her Granny's fields are all separated by gates. These gates take ages to open, so Kes learnt at like the age of 6 that it's a hell of a lot easier just to climb them. Problem: she took me there for the first time just before we first came to Narnia, the Summer before, actually, and I had never climbed a fence before. So, she tried to teach me. Without success. Anyway, so to get to the point – ever since then, whenever we see a gate or a fence or whatever, she always teases me about not being able to climb them. (I'm not the most graceful of people – neither is she, but she has years of practise.) And here, like some really weird nightmare, completely randomly, on a pirate ship in Narnia, is a fence. Dun dun duuuuuun. Right. I can do this. I will conquer it. I am Amy, Queen of Narnia, and I am here to kick some butt.

Squaring my shoulders, I march up to the fence. "Right, fence, this is between you and me."

The fence says nothing.

"I am so going to do this." I put my first foot on the rung. The fence remains silent.

"Right Amy, just do it slowly, okay, like that – one foot, next foot, okay, and then the next rung, and then the- no! no, don't do that!" I wobble. "Right, come on, ready?" A pause. Steeling myself, I swing my leg over the fence. Nothing happens. Another pause. "Ready? Okay, the next one." I swing my other leg over, and drop down to the floor.

I can't believe it! I've done it! I conquered the fence! YYYYYYYEEEEEEEEEESSSSSS! "Ha – take that, fence."

I give the fence a kick, just for good measure, and run the few feet left down the corridor, to find, sure enough, the crew of the Dawn Treader kicking the Pirates' asses. Caspian and Drinian are each taking on at least three pirates, (of course), and Ed and Reepicheep seem to be having a battle to see who can disarm the most pirates. Typical boys. Can I class Reepicheep as a boy? Hmm. Wow, I have problems focusing. What's that disease called – the one where you can't concentrate on anything for a long time? Pfft. Anyway, so I spot Peter battling the Pirate Chief Dude and run over, grabbing a bucket from the deck as I do so, and smack the Pirate Chief hard on the head.

He hits the ground with a rather satisfying thump.

"AMY!" Peter grabs me and hugs me really really hard. Ow.

"I'm fine, Pete!"

"You're okay!"

"I know!" I laugh. "You can put me down now."

"Oh," he grins, "Sorry."

At that moment, Kes comes running over. "AMY!" Flipping heck, I'm popular today. "Amy! Are you okay?"

"I'm fine! But guess what?" A dramatic pause ensues. "I climbed a fence!"

Silence.

Peter blinks. Seeing his clueless look, Kes cracks up.

Once she's calmed down enough, she hugs me, too, and then the rest of them, satisfied that the pirates are all safely tied up, come to join us. One of the crew who joined us in Terabinthia offers to steer the pirate ship back there (it's only like an hour's journey) and catch the next ship instead, 'cos he only wants to get to the Lone Islands, and doesn't mind how he does it. Everyone figures this is a good solution. Sorry about that brevity of that – I only write much about stuff that's interesting, and I hadn't even noticed the new sailor. Whoops. Hehe.

Anyway, so once we're all back on the Dawn Treader, and Susan and Kes have made us all cups of hot chocolate (hell yeah, they have that in Narnia) I sit down to tell them all about it, although I have to tell them from Peter's knee, 'cos he's being overprotective again.

"Well," I say, looking at Kes, "It all began with a fence..."

**~ KES POV ~**

My God. I never thought I'd see someone kidnapped in the first place, but more than that, I never thought I'd see someone kidnapped _accidentally_. I mean, how stupid do you have to be to kidnap the wrong princess? What utter gimps. They evidently didn't do their research. It wasn't even as if Susan and Amy looked the same; I looked more like Susan than Amy did! Still, at least they didn't kidnap Ed or something. I don't think he'd ever have lived it down.

Anyway, so after all the excitement had died down, and Peter had dragged Amy off to "go and lie down" (He insisted all the excitement had messed with her head – a fence? on a ship? I pointed out that we were in a land where mice could talk and dwarves were a different species, so really, a fence wasn't that much of a stretch, and received a dark look from him and a slap from Reepicheep for my pains. Fine.) the rest of us converged on the poop deck, Ed steering thoughtfully whilst I read some A.E. Housman (yes I had brought it with me, and yes, of course I knew it by heart by then, but oh well) and Susan and Caspian discussed the pirates. Drinian was having a look at where we would go next.

"I think the Lone Islands are a sensible next stop," he said to Rynelf, who nodded pensively, and pretended to know what he was talking about.

Ed looked at me over his shoulder. "Into my heart, an air that kills/from yon far county blows."

I smiled up at him, remembering the last time we had read this poem together, on a Narnian hill, all those years ago. "What are those blue remembered hills?/What spires, what farms are those?"

A few minutes later, Peter emerged to tell us that Amy was asleep, and sat down heavily next to his sister, who patted him comfortingly on the shoulder. "Cheer up, Pete."

"It's been a long day." I said softly.

"No kidding," grinned Ed.

There was a rather subdued atmosphere to the air, perhaps helped by the gently setting sun. Everyone was tired, and still recovering from the pirates. It had been pretty funny, in retrospect, but it certainly didn't feel that way at the time. I remembered Peter's face when he'd realised that Amy was gone, and wondered if that was how Ed would look when I went. No! I mentally slapped myself. How ridiculous I was – there was no point in lingering over it, as I had pointed out countless times. It would just make it worse. Sighing, I stood up.

"Think I'm going to turn in as well, guys. See you in the morning." They all nodded at me, and Drinian got up and took the wheel from Ed (who anyway, bless him, was taking us the wrong way) so that he could walk me back to my cabin. I loved Narnian traditions sometimes – I mean, what could possibly happen to me between the deck and my room? Still, it was sweet.

"Come on, then." Ed led me down the steps.

We walked down the corridor, and then he said gently "You're quiet. What's wrong?"

"Nothing." I smiled at him, genuinely. "Just tired."

"Mm," he nodded. A pause, and then, "Kes, I was thinking-" he stopped.

"What?"

"Er," he froze, looking a little panicked, and then shook his head "never mind – I'll tell you later, okay?"

"Mmhmm, sure, see you tomorrow." and I left him standing there in the hallway.

Looking back, I can guess what was on Ed's mind that evening – of course I can, and I probably would have guessed at the time, had I been fully awake. But there was something weird in us all that evening, like we'd just realised that this adventure was real. Despite the hilarity of previous situations, and the pettiness and frivolity which we were used to daily, we were heading out into unknown waters. We would all be tested during the journey, and, although we didn't know it at the time, some of us already were being. But the world works in weird ways. And looking back, looking back, that evening stands out above all the others, like the calm before the storm. Looking back, I think how odd it was that Ed chose that particular poem to say. Looking back, I think of those happy highways where we went, I think of those blue remembered hills.

The sunset was particularly beautiful that night.

_**Okay, so that is not at all how I thought it was going to turn out! Woah! I went into a randomly melancholy phase at the end of it! Kes's POV won't always be like that, I promise – I think it's 'cos I'm reading depressing books at the moment. That's right, blame the real authors. :D**_

_**Anyway, R&R?**_

_**And I realised, it's over a year and a half since I began this story. And my life has changed so much! Weird. Narnia, of course, is the string which ties it together. :) **_

_**Looking forward to the film! (Though it looks... questionable, and I'm sorry, but what the hell happened to Caspian's accent? It's just... gone! How can he be Spanish one day and English the next? Continuity! *flails*) Anyway, rant over.**_

_**- Kes **_


End file.
